TRIBUNE ENDORSEMENT FOR COOK COUNTY BOARD PRESIDENT

Preckwinkle for reform

January 12, 2010

"(T)oday we are brought together by a shared goal -- and for me, a solemn oath -- to reshape our county government, and to have the courage and resolve to make bold changes. ... We will transform this government into a more modern, more efficient operation. To get there, the transitions will be tough, the sacrifices -- painful. The dramatic change -- worth it." -- Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's inaugural address, Dec. 4, 2006.

If you bizarrely think Todd Stroger kept those promises -- or his promise to cut county employment to 22,000, or his promise to convene a summit of smart people to rethink this antiquated government -- then read no further! You have your candidate for the Feb. 2 primary election.

But you must be feeling lonesome.

Most of the Illinois Democrats who endorsed Stroger in 2006, from Congress to state government to City Hall, wriggled away long ago. They're frantic to forget that they wholly own Stroger and his reign -- even if they didn't formally sign off on his Friends and Family Hiring Extravaganza, that felonious steakhouse busboy included.

This year's primary gives Democrats a do-over. We hope they dump Stroger and instead nominate the honorable and no-nonsense Chicago alderman -- yes, there are some -- who offers her party its best hope of redemption after the Stroger humiliations.

Toni Preckwinkle, a University of Chicago-educated history teacher turned South Side politico, isn't a household name in much of Cook County. But she has built an impressive city-suburban alliance of African-American, Latino and white supporters. And on the signature issue in this campaign for many voters, yes, she says she would retire the second half of the 2008 sales tax increase that Stroger engineered.

We think Preckwinkle has the best potential of the three Democrats challenging Stroger to deliver on his badly broken promises for a streamlined and modernized County Building. Appearing before our editorial board, she was the only one of the four to say she would fully protect the independence of the panel that now runs the county's health care system. That's crucial: Keeping that system out of the mitts of County Board members, the board president and other bosses is the only hope that patients and taxpayers have for good health services delivered economically.

Candidate Terrence O'Brien has done a sound job as president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. He has called for an immediate repeal of the sales tax hike, while Preckwinkle vows to accomplish that in time. But O'Brien's much less convincing than Preckwinkle when the two talk about draining the sodden swamp that is county government.

The fourth candidate, county Clerk Dorothy Brown, is an unsuitable option. When she ran for re-election in 2008, we said that campaign cash-raising was about the most efficient thing done in Brown's change-resistant office: Employees groused privately that year that their "invitations" to her 55th birthday party at the Hotel Allegro included a request for a minimum $125 contribution. In 2009 she decided to stop accepting cash gifts from her workers -- but only after Tribune reporter Hal Dardick informed Brown that he was doing a story on the shakedowns. People who have to rely on her office for services are astonished at its inefficiency.

Preckwinkle, by contrast, gets strong grades for ethics and hard work on the City Council. "She's able to get things done and hold true to her values," Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, recently told the Tribune. "I think that's her most admirable trait politically."

We concur. At times Preckwinkle has bucked Mayor Richard Daley on budget and other high-profile votes. She has worked hard to expand affordable housing for the people of her lakefront ward without being a tool of developers -- another distinction that not every alderman can claim.

We hope Cook County Democrats will renounce the backing many of them dutifully gave to party regular Stroger in the 2006 general election and instead nominate Preckwinkle for the November 2010 ballot.

If you're a fed-up Democrat and need one last reason to vote for her, let it be this:

You may not agree with every call Toni Preckwinkle would make as president of the Cook County Board. But we're confident she wouldn't embarrass you or the 5 million-plus citizens who deserve better services, from fewer payrollers, at lower cost.

"We must reduce excess staffing. We must eliminate waste. We must restore faith in this government. We must and we will take bold steps. ... Make no mistake. I am here to bring real change. ... Anything less than action rooted in truth will be insufficient." -- Stroger, during his inaugural address.